Newly discovered star system has three 'Goldilocks' planets

February 22, 2017

Transcript

Move over Kepler's systems, there's a new darling star system in town.
Now, not exactly in the same town or the same state relative in the size of the universe but closest.
NASA announced they discovered a system called Trappist 1 that has not one not two but three planets that falls into what they call That's when planets are in an area that isn't too hot or too cold and potentially have the ability to support life as we know it.
All seven known planets in the system are Earth-sized, and they're also much closer to the star at the center.
TRAPPIST-1 is that star, and it's much smaller and cooler than our sun.
So the three planets in the habitable zone would probably be visible in the same way we see our moon in the sky.
NASA even made a super sweet travel poster with an idea of what that could look like.
Before you start packing your bags, though, there is a catch.
Trapper One is 40 light years away.
So if you were in a spaceship moving at the speed of a jet plane, it would take you 44 million years to get there.
Yikes.
As for potential life on those planets, scientists need more atmospheric data before they can determine if life is possible on TRAPPIST-1e, -1f, and -1g, which they hope to get when larger telescopes like the James Webb space telescope launches in late 2018.
For more information check out cnet.com.
I'm Ashley Esqueda, and until I can be a robot living on TRAPPIST-1f, be good human